035 人类最好的朋友

旁白 neutral

Some people use dogs for hunting. Many blind people use dogs as guides

有些人用狗打猎。许多盲人用狗作向导。

旁白 neutral

The police use dogs to help them search. But most people keep dogs as pets

警察用狗帮助搜寻。但大多数人把狗当宠物养。

旁白 neutral

There is an old saying that " a dog is a man's best friend."

有句老话说“狗是人类最好的朋友”。

旁白 neutral

Of all animals, dogs perhaps have the best relationship with people, and this friendship between people and dogs has deep roots

在所有动物中，狗或许与人的关系最好，这种人与狗之间的友谊有着深厚的渊源。

旁白 neutral

In fact, dogs and humans have been companions for about 14,000 years

事实上，狗和人类成为伙伴已有大约一万四千年。

旁白 neutral

Most scientists believe that today's dogs evolved from wolves

大多数科学家认为，今天的狗是由狼进化而来的。

旁白 neutral

" Evolved " means that they started as wolves and then, generation by generation, they slowly changed into dogs

“进化”的意思是，它们起初是狼，然后一代接一代，慢慢变成了狗。

旁白 neutral

According to scientists, dogs today are very different from wolves because of thousands of years of change

据科学家说，由于数千年的变化，现在的狗与狼已大不相同。

旁白 neutral

While most dogs are friendly to humans, wolves are fierce predators, one of the most dangerous animals around

大多数狗对人友好，而狼却是凶猛的捕食者，是周围最危险的动物之一。

旁白 neutral

So how might wolves have evolved into friendly dogs?

那么，狼是怎样进化成友善的狗的呢？

旁白 neutral

About 14,000 years ago, humans did not live in cities or towns

大约一万四千年前，人类并不住在城市或村镇里。

旁白 neutral

People didn't even have farms to grow food

人们甚至没有农场来种植食物。

旁白 neutral

Instead humans hunted animals for food and moved from place to place, looking for the best hunting grounds

那时，人类靠捕猎动物为生，并四处迁移，寻找最好的猎场。

旁白 neutral

The animals that humans hunted were the same animals that wolves hunted, so wherever the people went, the wolves would go as well

人类捕猎的动物，也是狼群捕猎的对象，所以人们走到哪里，狼群也会跟到哪里。

旁白 neutral

Humans and wolves were certainly not friends, but they weren't enemies either

人类和狼当然不是朋友，但也不是敌人。

旁白 neutral

In the evenings humans would light fires to cook their meals

傍晚，人们会生火做饭。

旁白 neutral

Some wolves would smell the delicious odor of cooking meat and try to sneak close the fire to get food

有些狼会闻到烹饪肉食的香味，试图悄悄靠近火堆寻找食物。

旁白 neutral

If a wolf did not seem threatening, people would give it some of their leftovers

如果一只狼看起来没有威胁，人们就会给它一些剩饭。

旁白 neutral

Humans especially liked the wolf cubs because they seemed cute and friendly

人类尤其喜欢小狼崽，因为它们看起来可爱又友善。

旁白 neutral

Other wolves would come to garbage piles and eat the food thrown away by the people

其他狼则会来到垃圾堆旁，吃掉人们丢弃的食物。

旁白 neutral

As long as the wolf wasn't threatening, humans were glad to let it clean up the garbage

只要狼不构成威胁，人类很乐意让它清理垃圾。

旁白 neutral

So, after many generations, humans and wolves began to develop a good relationship

于是，经过许多代之后，人类和狼开始建立起良好的关系。

旁白 neutral

Some wolves began to live near human camps

一些狼开始在人类营地附近生活。

旁白 neutral

Humans liked these camp wolves because they had a much better sense of smell and hearing than the humans

人类喜欢这些营地狼，因为它们的嗅觉和听觉比人类强得多。

旁白 neutral

When the wolves smelled or heard an unfriendly animal or unfriendly group of humans coming, they would bark

当狼闻到或听到不友善的动物或一群不友善的人靠近时，它们就会吠叫。

旁白 neutral

This would warn the people in the camp

这样就能警告营地中的人们。

旁白 neutral

Today protecting people from unfriendly animals and strangers is the job of a guard dog

如今，保护人们免受不友善动物和陌生人侵害是看门狗的职责。

旁白 neutral

Camp wolves were the first guard dogs

营地狼就是最早的看门狗。

旁白 neutral

But not all wolves became camp wolves; some were too wild and fierce

但并非所有狼都变成了营地狼；有些太野性、太凶猛了。

旁白 neutral

Only the friendly wolves were accepted by the people in the camp

只有友善的狼才被营地的人们所接纳。

旁白 neutral

People eventually began to take care of the friendly wolves

人们最终开始照顾这些友善的狼。

旁白 neutral

They would give them food and a dry place to sleep

他们会给它们食物和一个干燥的地方睡觉。

旁白 neutral

Scientists think that the shape of these animals changed over time

科学家认为，这些动物的外形随着时间发生了变化。

旁白 neutral

Since the wolves no longer had to hunt for food, their heads and teeth probably became much smaller

由于不再需要捕猎食物，它们的头部和牙齿很可能变小了很多。

旁白 neutral

Dogs that were kept in northern areas probably began growing long, thick fur to keep them warm

生活在北方地区的狗可能开始长出又长又厚的毛来保暖。

旁白 neutral

Meanwhile, dogs living in the south lost hair to help them stay cool

与此同时，生活在南方的狗褪去了毛发以保持凉爽。

旁白 neutral

The friendship between humans and dogs strengthened quickly

人类与狗之间的友谊迅速加深。

旁白 neutral

Dogs began to help people on their farms. They also helped people hunt

狗开始在农场帮忙，也帮助人们狩猎。

旁白 neutral

Soon humans began to raise dogs simply for companionship

很快，人类开始纯粹为了陪伴而养狗。

旁白 neutral

Today there are hundreds of different kinds of dogs

如今，狗的品种多达数百种。

旁白 neutral

Some dogs, like the Doberman pinscher, are large and used as guard dogs

有些狗，比如杜宾犬，体型大，被用作看门狗。

旁白 neutral

Other dogs, like the poodle and cocker spaniel, are small, usually harmless, and kept simply as pets

其他狗，比如贵宾犬和可卡犬，体型小，通常无害，纯粹当作宠物来养。

旁白 neutral

All dogs are similar in that they are tamable, which means they will act friendly to humans

所有狗的共同点是它们都可驯服，也就是说它们会对人类友善。

旁白 neutral

They are trainable, which means they will do what people tell them to do

它们可训练，这意味着它们会听从人的指令。

旁白 neutral

Also unlike wolves, dogs often wag their tails in a friendly way

此外，与狼不同，狗常常友好地摇尾巴。

旁白 neutral

But what is most amazing is that, unlike any other animal, dogs may exist only because they are useful and friendly to humans

但最令人惊叹的是，与其他任何动物不同，狗之所以存在，可能仅仅是因为它们对人类有用且友善。

旁白 neutral

Maybe if there were no humans in the world, there would be no dogs either

也许如果世界上没有人类，也就不会有狗了。

旁白 neutral

Most scientists believe that thousands of years of living with people led dogs to evolve from fierce, wild wolves into tamable, trainable

大多数科学家认为，与人类共同生活数千年，使狗从凶猛、野性的狼进化成了可驯服、可训练的，

旁白 neutral

and tail-wagging friends

以及摇尾巴的朋友。